EXTRA TIME

“Perfect for short stays”

October 21, 2022 at 1:55 am Leave a comment

As the UK Government and the Tories descend into absolute chaos, at least we’re getting some laughs. First there was the “Liz Truss lettuce” seven days ago (when the Daily Star set up a webcam on an iceberg lettuce to see if it had a longer shelf-life than the prime minister) and now everyone is making this joke about 10 Downing Street:

Liz Truss yesterday quit after 44 days in No 10. First Suella Braverman had to resign as Home Secretary, but then it became clear that Truss had to accept the near-total collapse of support among colleagues, becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. It is the same number of days which Brian Clough’s tumultuous spell as manager at Leeds United lasted in 1974. Even Sam Allardyce’s short-lived tenure as England manager in 2016 lasted 50% longer than Liz Truss’s time in the office!

In an 89-second resignation speech in Downing Street, Ms Truss who was the third prime minister since the Brexit vote in 2016, admitted:

“I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”

Last night the battle to replace her was already raging, with Tory MPs declaring for Mr Sunak, Mr Johnson and Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader. Mr Sunak was leading on 29 Tory MP declarations, followed by 24 for a comeback of Mr Johnson and 11 for Ms Mordaunt.

On Monday we’ll know

Only MPs who secure nominations from 100 of the close to 360 Tory MPs make it into the first round of the Conservative leadership contest. The hopefuls have until 2pm on Monday to gather the numbers.

^{The Times reports that the first ballot of MPs will then be held between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Monday. If there are three candidates, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated. The result will be announced at 6pm. If two candidates remain then an “indicative” vote will be held between 6.30pm and 8.30pm on Monday 24 October. The result will be announced at 9pm.}

If there are two who get above the threshold and neither of them decided to pull out in favour of a coronation, maybe after the “indicative vote” held on Monday evening, then the final two candidates will go to a members’ vote, with the winner to be declared next Friday.

^{Then the party will hold what it describes as an “expedited, binding, online vote of Conservative Party members” to choose the next leader. How exactly this will work is unclear.}

Election to end the chaos…

Meanwhile Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, reacted to Ms Truss’s departure by declaring: “We need a general election – now.” Labour say they are ready for election “to end this chaos”, and sources say they will keep making the demand – trying to win back No10 more than twelve years after Gordon Brown lost out in the 2010 general election and was followed by conservative David Cameron as Prime Minister.

… or Boris being back?

The Daily Telegraph reports that Boris Johnson is privately urging Conservative MPs to back him for a dramatic return to Downing Street with a pledge that only he can win the Tories the next election, having secured the biggest Tory majority for three decades in 2019. An ally told the newspaper:

“If the Tories are serious about winning in 2024 and want to stop a general election before then, they need to revert to the guy with a mandate who is a seasoned campaigner.

“They need someone to take the fight to Labour. Rishi Sunak should make contact and work out how the two of them can get back together.”

Mr Johnson is flying back from a holiday in the Caribbean as early as today.

No prime minister has returned for a second stint after leaving office since Labour’s Harold Wilson and before that Winston Churchill, Mr Johnson’s British political hero.

However, there are doubts about whether he can hit the 100 (of 357 Conservative MP) votes threshold, given how support had drained from him earlier this year leading to his resignation. Party chiefs had to deny the rules were designed to block him.

As there is also the looming Privileges Committee investigation into whether Mr Johnson misled MPs about lockdown-breaking social gatherings in No10 dubbed “partygate”, which is set to start gathering evidence within weeks, Ms Truss’ resignation as prime minister seems to have come too early for Boris Johnson…

What a time for a trip to London

This is a very interesting time to be in London – not only to watch West Ham live for the first time this season against Bournemouth at London Stadium on Monday evening …

By this time, the UK could already have a new prime minister because if only one candidate crossed the 100 MP votes threshold on Monday or all the other candidates pull out of the race, the remaining candidate would automatically become leader of the conservative party and prime minister.

In this case there would be no confirmatory vote among the membership of the Tories. Otherwise Tory members will vote between Tuesday and Friday for a new leader in order to decide the Conservative’s leadership contest within the next week. That means that Liz Truss’s successor will be confirmed by next Friday at the latest.

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